What Was Jesus Writing?

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thistle said:
We do** NOT **know what Jesus wrote. All answers are baseless speculation.
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Indeed. This passage was added later, probably by a scribe who had a point to make. It is not present in the oldest manuscripts of this book. See “Misquoting Jesus”, by Dr. Bart Ehrman.
 
KyleOfOrigen said:
Hi. New here- so I’m kinda stupid. Haha. Sorry.

I remember reading about Diogenes Laertius who was a biographer of the greek philosophers and in talking about the philosopher Menedemus he wrote:

“When a young man behaved arrogantly and with boldness towards him, Menedemus did not say a word, but took a stick and drew in the dirt an insulting picture that only the young man would understand since he was in a great crowd of people, as not to openly insult him and the young man went away”.

Maybe this is what they did back then so the Master (Jesus) would let the arrogant one “save face” by drawing a cryptic picture that only they would understand. Just my opinion. Jesus is Lord! 🙂
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There is no evidence that Jesus knew how to write. He may not have even been literate, since his parents were simple peasants, and literacy was usually reserved to the wealthy. So, drawing a picture in the dirt makes sense.

The fact that he knew key passages from the Old Testament may have been that he was exposed to the preaching of rabbis. There is such a gap in our knowledge of his early life that all we can do is speculate.
 
nmgauss said:
There is no evidence that Jesus knew how to write. He may not have even been literate, since his parents were simple peasants, and literacy was usually reserved to the wealthy. So, drawing a picture in the dirt makes sense.

The fact that he knew key passages from the Old Testament may have been that he was exposed to the preaching of rabbis. There is such a gap in our knowledge of his early life that all we can do is speculate.
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Umm. Jesus is/was the Most High God. He was Fully God- Fully Man. To insinuate he was illiterate or didn’t know how to write seems blasphemous to me. He might have had dirty feet in this scene and unshaven and looked dumb like the rest of them- but in that instant He still knew the entire scope of all knowledge. He knew about computers and cell-phones when He was writing in the dirt 2,000 years ago. Just 'cause he didn’t tell them about about doesn’t mean He was stupid.
 
Read Jeremiah 17: 13: “…they that depart from thee, shall be written in the earth; because they have forsaken the Lord…”
 
Perhaps he wrote the name of one of them, and something that person did not want publicly known.
Then another,
  • and another.
By the way, he was a carpenter, and knew how to draw and how to measure, and how to bill the client.
 
TimothyH said:
It is not speculation.

… Jesus wrote with his finger… The author is trying to tell us that Jesus is God and that he is going to pronounce judgement…

The authorities were invoking the Old Testament law in order to stone the woman. God in the person of Jesus Christ was reminding them of the real meaning of the law - mercy and forgiveness for one who repents. Instead, like Pharaoh, they authorities and Pharisees hardened their heart and wanted to kill the woman…

-Tim-
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👍
 
nmgauss said:
There is no evidence that Jesus knew how to write. He may not have even been literate, since his parents were simple peasants, and literacy was usually reserved to the wealthy. So, drawing a picture in the dirt makes sense.

The fact that he knew key passages from the Old Testament may have been that he was exposed to the preaching of rabbis. There is such a gap in our knowledge of his early life that all we can do is speculate.
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Note that He could read:
16* And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; 17 and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written, …
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Luke 4:16-17
 
KyleOfOrigen said:
Umm. Jesus is/was the Most High God. He was Fully God- Fully Man. To insinuate he was illiterate or didn’t know how to write seems blasphemous to me. He might have had dirty feet in this scene and unshaven and looked dumb like the rest of them- but in that instant He still knew the entire scope of all knowledge. He knew about computers and cell-phones when He was writing in the dirt 2,000 years ago. Just 'cause he didn’t tell them about about doesn’t mean He was stupid.
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That’s the difficult thing - just to what extent did Jesus, when He incarnated, “empty Himself”? If you go on one extreme, you have the risk of over-humanizing Jesus at the expense of His divinity, and on the other extreme, you risk making Jesus too divine that He is no longer ‘human’ - it’s as if He merely donned a costume.
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Joe_Kelley said:
Note that He could read:

Luke 4:16-17
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I always point this out, but being able to read does not automatically guarantee the ability to write. Yes, nowadays we tend to learn reading and writing as a set, but they’re really two separate skills. Back then, writing was a specialty skill (that’s why scribes socially had a relatively high position) - there isn’t always a guarantee that someone who could read can write.

So I don’t think the passage in Luke settles the issue, since we don’t even know what Jesus is writing. He could indeed have been writing words, or He could have simply been mimicking the act of writing - acting as if He’s writing something (to make a point to the people?) We don’t know that. Anything is just speculation.
pete_bowes said:
By the way, he was a carpenter, and knew how to draw and how to measure, and how to bill the client.
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To be more exact, Jesus was a tekton - an artisan. Sometimes He would have worked with wood, more often He would have worked with stone (considering how stone is found in more abundance than wood of decent quality in the Holy Land), He may even do a bit of construction and field work on the side.

You point out something correct there by the way. Jesus and Joseph were tektons, so they were not really belong to the ‘peasant’ category - the landless or tenant farmers. There was really no ‘middle class’ to speak of in those days (you were either ‘rich’ or ‘poor’), so yes, Jesus’ family were among the working ‘poor’, but it’s not as if they were totally destitute and penniless. Speaking of which, it’s just our modern prejudice which insinuates that the ‘poor’ must be illiterate.
 
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